Roadmap For Competitive Programming

 

Read this to learn the differences between data structure and algorithm problems and concurrency programming problems. Nearly all programming problems in Competitive Programming would require using some particular Data Structure or algorithm to get the best possible solution. Knowing the fundamentals of data structures and algorithmic techniques before starting is essential; data structures and algorithms aid in making programs more efficient.

 

For getting jobs in product-driven companies like Google, a first and primary requirement is having solid coding concepts that involve data structures and algorithms, but are not limited to them. Since data structures & algorithms are a central part of competitive programming, participating in such competitions can be a good preparation for tech interviews. The goal of competitive programming is to write the source code for a computer program that is capable of solving given problems. Competitive programming is a mental sport that allows coding of given problems within given constraints.

 

In other words, Competitive Programming is a kind of competition in which a set number of programmers try to solve coding problems within a set time. Competitive coding is nothing more than an excellent way of learning coding while solving various sets of problems. The best part about competitive coding is you just do not need to solve one problem, you also need to ensure you are keeping your space and time complex. Sometimes a bit of optimization is needed, sometimes you actually need an entirely new, efficient algorithm (this is something that you learn over time).

 

If you have no knowledge of coding and you would like to know DS and algorithms, then get started with C. C++ is a little complex and seems complicated to the beginners, so I would not recommend it to beginners who know nothing about code or are starting out in programming. C is called the mother of all languages, C is the source where all programmers started learning how to code. Algorithms are usually created independently from a base language, i.e., one algorithm may be implemented in more than one programming language.

 

Let me give you a quick glimpse, around 20% of the problems in programming competitions are just converting a simple English to the code of your favorite programming language. Once you are comfortable with any programming language, and a few basic concepts about data structures and number theory, you are ready to begin participating in the competition. To summarize, study the programming language, learn all programming concepts, practice in a competitive programming framework, be consistent in practice, and participate in a competition. Do not worry, we are going to provide you a comprehensive road map of how to get started in competitive programming, how it helps you, if it is required in interviews or not, and more.

 

When you are a beginner, do not begin straight away on the hardest or the middle challenges, or else you would get discouraged and might lose your interest in learning to program. If you want to devote more time on practicing coding and get an early completion, then each day you will work through 2 easy, 2 medium, and 1 hard problems per data structure. For example, when you start programming for the first time, you do an easy problem for each Data Structure (Array, Linked-List, Stack, Queue, Tree, Graph).